BYE, BYE BY-PASS

Cork North West TD Michael Creed has criticised Fianna Fail for their abject failure to deliver the Macroom bypass project after a decade of promises and guarantees. Speaking after the publication of the new programme for Government which severely cuts Government expenditure on road projects, Deputy Creed said;

“The re-negotiated programme for government explicitly postpones any progress on the N22 bypass indefinitely. While it commits to completing the Major Urban Routes in 2010, the Programme states that “it will review the completion dates and appropriate road standard of the remaining 94 road projects at the design stage or earlier of development in light of the economic circumstances”. The Programme points to a shift of emphasis in favour of public transport with the ratio of spending on new Transport 21 projects between public transport and national roads programme will be 2:1 in favour of public transport. Therefore whatever limited resources the Government has it will be investing in public transport and not in projects such as the Macroom bypass”.

“It is regrettable that our Fianna Fail Deputies in Cork North West have not mounted a stronger case for the project despite a decade of promises and assurances on the matter. It is frustrating to say the least that this is the hard cold reality we are presented with after almost fifteen years of Fianna Fail Government where resources have been squandered and progress has been minimal. The legacy of the Celtic Tiger era Government in this area will be traffic congestion, poor road surfaces and tragically, road deaths”.